To raise, or not to raise, that is the question: (for this week at least). The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meet this Thursday with the market keeping a closer than usual eye on their decision.
Speculation is certainly rife – the pound being the happy beneficiary of this, hitting a 3 week high against the single currency, but how will they vote, and what are the likely outcomes?
The likelihood is that they will leave the rates on hold for now. However, it could well be a much closer call than many expect. One reason for a possible February rate hike could be if the committee decides to disregard the Q4 GDP estimate; by this stage the MPC will have had access to December’s data for industrial production and construction, and that other bit of crucial information – the January Consumer Price Index data (CPI). If this is overly high, King and his cronies could move to prevent inflation expectations being destabilised.
Andrew Sentance, a relatively long standing hawk on the interest rate dilemma, and Charles Bean – the deputy governor of the Bank of England - further added fuel to the fire in interviews given last week. The latter stated in response to the problem of global commodity price inflation that the committee “may well have to respond to that by keeping domestically generated inflation lower”.
It is not inconceivable then that the bank will raise interest rates as early as February – a modest increase would be favoured over a sharp one. What is certain however, is that there will be a highly nervous market in the coming few days...
Edward Knox
Analyst - Caxton FX